FREE Physical Science textbooks by Siyavula

A group of dedicated and passionate volunteers from Siyavula teamed up to create South Africa’s first, truly-free Physical Science texbooks for Grade 10, 11 and 12 called Everything Science. You can download the textbooks right now using the links below. For learners … For teachers … DOWNLOAD

A look at Khanya and ICT in schools with Kobus van Wyk

I’m privileged to have known Kobus van Wyk, former director of the Khanya Special Project, for a number of years. The Khanya Project has been by far the most successful project of it’s kind in South Africa, overshadowing anything other education departments have attempted. The project, which is coming to an end in March 2012, [...]

Social Media in the classroom?

I can still remember being a part of what is now called the “backchannel” of the school classroom. Like everyone else, I passed notes to my friends and snickered rebelliously when the teacher wasn’t looking. Today, the “backchannel” consists of texting, Tweeting and uploading to Facebook pages.

What is a “PLN”?

Julian Wood at TeachMeet Leads 2011 explains a Personal Learning Network and how teachers can benefit from this.

Why not hold a TeachMeet in your area?

I can hear you asking, “A TeachMeet? What is that?” I asked the same question before attending the Partners in Learning Institute in July 2011. Baldev Singh, one of our presenters, who is a founder of http://imagineeducation.org in the UK introduced the idea to us. He said this informal type of professional development is starting [...]

Three SA teachers attend Microsoft’s inaugural Partners in Learning Institute week in Redmond, Washington

Any teacher interested in integrating technology with the curriculum would jump at a chance to visit Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond to attend their Partners in Learning Institute, wouldn’t they? Well I consider myself in that category and from 24th – 31st July I had the privilege of such a visit! This PIL Institute is a [...]

GIS in Education

I saw this post in the ESRI GIS Community Blog. Written by Joseph Kerski, it is an interesting read. The author gives many reasons why spatial analysis is important in education including social, ethical, creative, logical, practical and essential ones. The article concludes by saying that “using GIS in education is essential in order to [...]

Educational Challenges of GIS

The “GIS in the geography curriculum” article in Position IT (July 2009) provides worthwhile research concerning GIS education here in South Africa. The report details these common challenges of teaching GIS in South Africa: lack of any, or any adequate training in GIS; inadequate computer laboratories; other school subjects competing for computer access; change in [...]

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